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Red Sox Sign Draft Picks

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The Red Sox made quick progress, signing up their draft picks and making assignments. Top-pick, Cameron Cannon of the University of Arizona, signed with Boston and has been sent to Fort Myers before beginning his pro career at short-season Single-A Lowell. According to MLB.com senior writer Jim Callis, Cannon earned $1.3 million in the process.

Cannon, 21, is 184-for-531 (.347) with 16 home runs, 113 RBI and a 1.004 OPS in three years at Arizona. An All-Pac-12 selection as a junior, Cannon recorded more walks than strikeouts in each of the last two years with Arizona. He’s already a bit of a familiar face having played for Falmouth last summer in the Cape Code League, where he was selected an All-Star.

Red Sox have also signed Ryan Zeferjahn (3rd round, catcher), Jaxx Groshans (5th catcher), Brock Bell (7th, pitcher), Wil Dalton (8th, outfielder), Alex Erro (17th, infielder), Jacob Herbert (18th, pitcher), Dylan Spacke (21st round, pitcher), Dominic D’Alessandro (22nd round, first baseman), Leon Paulino (23rd round, outfielder), Dean Miller (24th round, outfielder), Brandon Walter (26th round, pitcher), Devon Roedahl (27th round, pitcher), and Luke Bandy (29th, outfielder).

Especially in the heat of a current campaign it’s easy to view the draft as a futuristic list of someday/maybe potential. But it wasn’t all that long ago that draftees like Michael Chavis (2014), Andrew Benintendi (2015), and Mike Shawaryn (2016) were simply names on a long list and not big league contributors. Benintendi made his MLB debut just 14 months after being drafted. Jackie Bradley, Jr. likewise made his debut in 2013 less than two years after being selected in the 2011 June Draft.

Now, a few other notes of interest for Red Sox Nation:

  • Dominican Republic authorities say they’re closing in on arresting the person who ordered the shooting of David Ortiz. There are likely to be plenty more details to come in the days ahead from what the police there are calling a “complex” assassination plot. The murder rate in the D.R. is 12.5 killings per 100,000 people, making it one of the most dangerous countries in the world, according to the US State Department. So far, there have been 10 suspects taken into custody for the Ortiz shooting.
  • Ortiz remains at Massachusetts General Hospital where he’s expected to make a full recovery. On Sunday on Instagram Ortiz’ wife, daughter, and son all posted Fathers Day tributes to the iconic slugger.
  • Last month the Pirates Josh Bell recorded 94 total bases. That’s the most in a single May since aptly-named Willie Mays in 1958 (102). Mays and fellow Hall of Famers Ty Cobb (103 in 1921) and Mickey Mantle (102 in 1956) are the only players with 100+ bases in the fifth month. Hall of Famer and Red Sox great Jim Rice had 92 TB in 1978, the most in club history for May and now the 9th-most for the month in MLB history since at least 1908.
  • Former Sox closer Craig Kimbrel is now in the Cubs organization. Will be interesting to see how his shortened season unfolds. Kimbrel is set to pitch on Tuesday in Sacramento with Chicago’s Triple-A Iowa team.
  • The Orioles were just what the Red Sox needed this weekend. Boston recorded three straight wins against the birds to extend their winning streak to a season-high-tying five games. The Sox have won 11 of their last 12. Baltimore, meanwhile, has yet to win 10 home games in 2019, stuck at 9-28, the fewest home wins in the majors. The 4:44 game was the longest of the season for both teams.
  • Through Sunday’s game the Red Sox have recorded an extra-base hit in 73 straight games, the longest active streak in the major leagues. Boston owns the major league record for the longest-ever streak of games with an XBH since at least 1908: 164 in a row over a full calendar year starting May 3, 2004 and ending a year later on May 3, 2005.
  • Now it’s on to face a very tough Minnesota team on their turf. The Twins lead baseball with 5.96 runs/game (vs 5.40 for the Sox) this season. Minnesota also tops baseball for runs (417 vs 394 for Boston), home runs (137 vs 107), RBI (407 vs 371), AVG (.275 vs .262), and OPS (.857 vs .790). The Twins are 22-8 for their last 30 games, tied with the Dodgers for the best record in baseball in that time.


Red Sox Pumped for 2019

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As we countdown to a new baseball season (that can’t come soon enough), a couple notes of interest to fans across Red Sox Nation.

  • Enjoyed seeing the team, coaches and, of course, the new Championship trophy at Sox Winter Weekend this month at Foxwoods Casino. There was triumphant jubilance in the air, as you’d expect after a thrilling World Series victory. As he did last season in his first appearance at the annual party, Manager Alex Cora exuded a whole lot of confidence about the campaign ahead. “From Day One in Spring Training they were locked in,” Cora recalled of his first Florida at the helm. But now, “they’re ready for next year!” As for 2019, “If you guys thought it was fun last year, be ready!” Cora added.
  • Nice spot during the fan fest when a mom asked Sox president/CEO Sam Kennedy who on the team might be a great role model for her kids. Kennedy didn’t hesitate a beat in picking Jackie Bradley, Jr.: “He is as fine a human being as you’ll ever encounter.”
  • The Winter Weekend event is a lot of fun with plenty of access to the team’s stars, but it’s also a lot of standing around and waiting in confusingly winding lines. This year’s event was an easy sell out with over 7,000 attendees. That’s a lot of people that the Foxwoods’ convention space and staff seem to struggle to accommodate. What was once a very organized event appears to have outgrown its venue.
  • The Red Sox have pretty much kept the 2018 band together for the new season. Boston inked deals with Nathan Eovaldi (four years) and World Series MVP Steve Pearce (one year). Leaving the roster are Joe Kelly (to the Dodgers), Drew Pomeranz (Giants), and Ian Kinsler (Padres). The club welcomed back Bryce Brentz in a minor league deal. Also new for 2019 are minor league signings of Colten Brewer, Gorkys Hernández, Ryan Weber, and Juan Centeno.
  • Future Hall of Famer Craig Kimbrel remains on the free agent market with the Sox giving no indication they’re ready to re-sign him to the massive contract he wants. Some speculate whether there may be a pillow contract with the Sox or some other club in Kimbrel’s future, perhaps a year-long deal so that he can re-try the market after 2019.
  • With the loss of Kelly and Kimbrel the Sox bullpen is weakened for 2019. Matt Barnes and Ryan Brasier proved mostly reliable last season, though it’s unclear what fans can expect from Tyler Thornburg, Heath Hembree and Steven Wright.
  • And speaking of the Hall of Fame and the history-making unanimous selection of Mariano Rivera, it’s worth noting that one-time Red Sox Curt Schilling got closer than ever this year to a selection. Schilling received 60.9% of the 75% of the baseball writers’ votes needed, by far his best showing since first appearing on the ballot in 2013 and up big from 51.2% in 2018. Schilling has three more years of eligibility for this ballot, though there are additional ways into the hallowed halls. Roger Clemens, who likewise has three years eligibility remaining, saw his voting tally inch up in this round of voting to 59.5%, his most ever, too.
  • Catching up: Former manager John Farrell has been re-hired as a pitching consultant to the Reds; one-time Sox reliever Craig Breslow is now the Director of Strategic Initiatives with the Cubs; former Sox first base coach Arnie Beyeler will man that post for the Orioles this season.
  • Former Red Sox third baseman Will Middlebrooks, 30, has retired from playing. Middlebrooks was a 5th round draft pick for Boston in 2007 and played three seasons with the club followed by appearances with the Padres, Brewers and Rangers. An unfortunate injury last spring training kept him from a restart with the Phillies in 2018. It will be fun to see what’s next for Middlebrooks, who says he plans on staying in the game in some capacity.
  • A couple notes from around the division: The Yankees have made a variety of moves this off-season, including signing Danny Farquhar to a minor league deal. Farquhar is making his way back after a ruptured brain aneurysm that occurred in the dugout last season while playing for the White Sox…The Rays appear to have found a solution to the cavernous, often empty feeling at their ballpark in Florida: close part of the stadium to force a little togetherness.
  • A reminder, fans, that you can find news and notes about Red Sox division rivals throughout the off-season on Twitter at RSNStatsPLUS+.

5 Red Sox All-Stars

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Updated — The online voters have spoken and they’re sending Red Sox star Mookie Betts back to the All-Star game for 2018.  The Sox star slugger received 4,286,994 votes for a third straight All-Star selection. Only Astros infielder José Altuve, who received an MLB-best 4,849,630 votes, had more overall support.

Betts is the fifth Boston outfielder with multiple fan elections, joining Manny Ramírez (7), Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski (5), Hall of Famer Jim Rice (4) and Fred Lynn (3).

Betts is set to become the 14th player in club history with three or more All-Star starts, regardless of position. Ted Williams leads that group with 12 career starts among his 18 total appearances in the game. Yastrzemski also represented the Red Sox in 18 All-Star games.

J.D. Martinez was selected by the fans as the American League starting designated hitter. Martinez was also an All-Star in 2015 and is just the second Red Sox DH to win the fan election joining David Ortiz (2005, 2008, 2011-13, 2016).

In addition to the starters, who were elected by the fans, pitchers and reserve players were named to the All-Star Game rosters by the Player Ballot, a vote of the players, managers and coaches, and by Major League Baseball. Through that process, Chris Sale and Craig Kimbrel each earned their seventh career selections and Mitch Moreland, at 32, was named an All-Star for the first time in his nine year career.

Last season Sale was the eighth Red Sox pitcher in club history to start in the All-Star Game, the first since Derek Lowe in 2002.

Fans had the opportunity to get Andrew Benintendi an All-Star nod through a last-chance vote that pitted Benny against four other close calls. In the end, though, the most votes went to  the Mariners’ Jean Segura, with Benintendi registering second place. Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton ranked last of the runners up.

In all, the Red Sox, Astros, and Indians will each send a Major League-high five players to the Midsummer Classic. Boston’s record for All-Star selections is eight in 1946. The club had seven selections in 1978 and 2002.

The MLB All-Star Game presented by Mastercard takes place at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. on July 17. The full roster is available on the All-Star web site.


Sox Stun Rays with 8th Win

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The weather was as cold as Boston’s offense on Sunday as the Red Sox seemed destined for a loss heading into the 8th inning, down 7-2 to the Rays. The 38ºF game-time temperature was the lowest for any Sox home game in nearly 15 years (34ºF on April 17, 2003).

Tampa Bay subjected the Sox to a thousand cuts with a run scored in every inning from the second to the sixth, then added insult to injury with two more in the top of the seventh. Boston had squeaked in just two runs of their own until the flood gates opened in the bottom the eighth. Facing Rays reliever Matt Andriese, Hanley Ramírez led off the inning with a single but watched as Brock Holt and J.D. Martinez made quick outs.

With two down and even after a switch later in the inning to Tampa closer Alex Colomé, Boston recorded three doubles from Mitch Moreland, Rafael Devers, and Andrew Benintendi along with clutch singles from Eduardo Núñez, Mookie Betts, and Christian Vázquez. When the smoke had cleared the Sox found themselves up 8-7 with Craig Kimbrel ready to go for a 1-2-3 ninth inning. For Kimbrel it was his 69th save in a Boston uniform, tying him with Sparky Lyle for eighth most saves in club history.

Sunday’s win was the eighth in a row for the Red Sox, tying their longest win streak of 2017. The 8-1 start is the club’s best record through the first nine games of a season in franchise history. It’s also the club’s second best win streak for the month of April in the last 100 years after 11 consecutive wins in 2009.

“We’ve been playing good baseball for a month now,” rookie manager Alex Cora said after the game. “I know spring training doesn’t count, but we were playing good baseball [even then]. When you play good baseball, you’re going to have good results.” Cora joins Joe Morgan in 1988 as the only Boston managers to begin his tenure by winning at least eight of his first nine games.

In addition to the startling offensive outburst, the Sox continued their streak of errorless games. The nine straight games without an error is Boston’s longest-ever to begin a season.

Despite the good vibes, the Red Sox got just 3.2 innings of work from Eduardo Rodriguez in his season debut. Rodriguez, who had just been activated from the disabled list following off-season knee surgery, allowed five hits and two walks leading to three earned runs. He did, however, manage seven strikeouts becoming the first Boston pitcher with that many strikeouts without finishing the 4th inning since Roger Clemens on August 31, 1984.

Perhaps more troubling was the apparent ankle injury to Xander Bogaerts, who had to leave the game early. Bogaerts has slashed .368 AVG/.400 OBP/.711 SLG to open the season. His seven doubles, nine extra-base hits, and 23 total bases against the Rays are all the most by any major league hitter against any single opponent so far this season.

For the Rays, Sunday marked their eight straight loss, the longest losing streak in baseball and the club’s longest since an eight-game skid in July 2016. Tampa Bay is just the sixth team since 1908 to win on Opening Day and then lose their next eight games. The last to do that was the 2005 Rockies.

After another off-day, the Red Sox will take on the Yankees at Fenway for three games beginning on Tuesday night.


Red Sox Season Stops Short

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“You go a 100 miles an hour,” John Farrell said after the Red Sox season ended on Monday afternoon, “Then, all of sudden, you face plant into a wall when the season is over.”

That’s well said, even for fans who follow every game, every at-bat, and every pitch through a long season only to face the emptiness of another premature ending to a postseason drive. The Sox, who led by one from the fifth inning until the eighth, were undone on Monday by the least likely culprits.

As in each of the previous games in the series, Rick Porcello welcomed the Astros to a first-inning lead. Xander Bogaerts tied the game with a solo home run in the bottom of the frame, his 1st postseason extra-base hit since tripling in Game 3 of the 2013 World Series at St. Louis. Porcello allowed a 2-1 Astros lead in the second, but there the game stayed until the bottom of the fifth, when Houston turned to veteran pitcher Justin Verlander for his 1st-ever appearance in relief. Unimpressed, Andrew Benintendi pounded him with a two run, 383-foot shot and in so doing became the 7th-youngest player with a go-ahead HR in an elimination game.

Clinging To A Lead

Chris Sale, pitching in relief for the 1st time since May 8, 2012 with the White Sox, set the Astros down 1-2-3 in the fourth and fifth innings. In the sixth, Houston phenom Yuli Gurriel reached on a two-base error, but Sale worked around it for preserve the one-run lead.

Stay with @RSNStats on Twitter and RSNStats.com for the latest Red Sox news and notes throughout the offseason as together we countdown to the 2018 season. For special coverage of other postseason games, see the new @RSNStatsPLUS+ on Twitter.

In the seventh inning there were signs of weakness, with Christian Vázquez reaching to corral Sale’s delivery. George Springer and Carlos Correa connected for singles, but Sale again preserved the lead with a strikeout of Houston’s RBI champ, Marwin González.

That should’ve been the day for Sale, but the Sox got greedy. Rather than turn to their set-up man, Addison Reed, they sent Sale back out for the eighth and Alex Bregman greeted him with a 368-foot home run to tie the game. With a man on first and two outs, the Sox turned to Craig Kimbrel only to watch him walk a man and allow a single from Josh Reddick that resulted in a 4-3 Astros lead.

Back out in the ninth, Kimbrel showed uncharacteristic lack of control, hitting a man and then giving up a single before pinch-hitter Carlos Beltrán knocked in an insurance run. Beltrán improved to a .325 career postseason batting average, second only to Steve Garvey (.338) for the highest such mark in major league history (minimum 200 at-bats).

Devers Inside-The-Park HR

With the Sox down 5-3 in the bottom of the ninth, Fenway was quiet. The crowd, however, roared to life when Rafael Devers became the 1st Sox batter in 102 seasons to belt an inside-the-park postseason home run. The only other Red Sox with postseason inside-the-park blasts were Larry Gardner on October 11, 1916 and Patsy Dougherty on October 2, 1903. The last such home run at Fenway during the regular season was Jacoby Ellsbury‘s on September 19, 2011 (Game 2) against the Orioles.

Devers’ home run was the 17th inside-the-park home run in postseason history and the 1st to come in the ninth inning or later. Devers is the 1st rookie ever with an inside-the-park HR in the postseason.

The last postseason inside-the-park home run was by Oakland’s Mark Kotsay‘s in Game 2 of the 2006 American League Division Series.

Paired with his home run on Sunday, Devers joins Mickey Mantle (1952) and Jimmie Foxx (1929) as only American League rookies with HRs in consecutive postseason games before turning 21 years old.

Postseason Plans Shattered

Tying the game with a feat like Devers’ would have been dramatic. Winning it that way would have been beyond description. But Devers homer, no matter how historic, was just one run and the Sox couldn’t muster a second to extend hope for at least one more postseson game.

Boston is now 6-6 in Division Series, with losses in back-to-back seasons. The team is 17-7 in 24 elimination games since 1999, including 15-9 when facing elimination at home.